[Georgia_ahead] FW: Recommendation Needed

Fri Aug 31 11:53:50 EDT 2007

On the dsshe-list someone wrote in asking that if a disability is
obvious does one have to have the student bring in documentation.  An
example would be a person who has no arms or no use of their arms and
their are no residual medical issues.  One response brought on the below
response from Jim Marks who is on the AHEAD Board and is respected for
his common sense, case by case approach to disability access.  I deleted
the one from the "24 year old veteran", but will forward if I can find
it so you have the whole picture. The Disability Services website at the
bottom of Jim's signature is worth viewing.   

Bonnie Martin
Georgia Perimeter College

________________________________

From: Disabled Student Services in Higher Education
<DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU> [mailto:Disabled Student Services in
Higher Education <DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU>] On Behalf Of "Marks,
Jim" <marks at MSO.UMT.EDU>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 10:59 AM
To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: Re: Recommendation Needed

I think the 23 year veteran DS officer is creating a purpose for 
documentation that is indefensible and terribly misguided. Essentially, 
the officer is saying that everyone must be treated the same, and 
holding firm to this is the only way to do the job. When I hear such 
logic, I have to scratch my head. What standard are we talking about, 
and who the heck made this castle in the sky a rigid purpose for 
determining eligibility? Where is the common sense and the ability to 
show our work in ways that are logical and humane? Moreover, why is 
that we cannot take the premises behind the civil rights laws and apply 
them to our practices? Both 504 and the ADA say that equal treatment 
will harm people with disabilities. I just don't get why some think the 
principles of looking at individuals and case-by-case decision making 
are bad. Truth is, special treatment is the very core of disability 
rights. Without the special treatment, people with disabilities will be 
shut out. So for goodness sake, let's use our heads and dump the rigid 
approach to gathering evidence of disability and its impact. Let's not 
impose rules that are actually contrary to our profession. And let's 
keep the gathering of documentation aimed at the two purposes outlined 
in AHEAD's best practices for documentation. 

Jim Marks 
Director of Disability Services 
University of Montana 
jim.marks at umontana.edu 
http://www.umt.edu/dss/ 

-----Original Message----- 
From: Disabled Student Services in Higher Education 
[mailto:DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU] On Behalf Of Worden, Elizabeth 
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 7:51 AM 
To: DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU 
Subject: FW: Recommendation Needed 

Gentle People, as I thought over the correspondence that Jorja and I had
privately, I thought it might be both interesting and useful to some in 
DSSHE-land, so have received Jorja's permission to share it. 

My original reply to Jorja was: 
Jorja, I happen to be of the opinion that it is not reasonable to 
require students to document that which is intuitively obvious to the 
most casual of observers. Thus if I had a student who I can observe 
lacks arms or hands, I believe that it is reasonable to decide that he 
might need a scribe (and to learn how to use voice recognition 
software?) without documentation for that disability. I will be curious 
to hear what others say. 

He responded with the following: 

Elizabeth, 

My heart is big, so I must admit that your approach was also the path 
that I was planning to take, however, I received the following response 
from another lister: 

------------------- 

"Jorja, 

My suggestion (after 23+ years in the field) is to have policies and 
ALWAYS follow them. I have been through several OCR complaints during 
my tenure. I can tell you the policies and following them is the number 
one thing for them. 

I ONLY serve on a regular basis students that meet our guidelines 
(request services, have appropriate documentation, and then complete 
mutually with my office a plan for accommodations.) We have a long 
history of students from outside the US and now a new English Lang Inst.
I hold firm that ALL must meet the standard. I do give those with a 
history of a disability a one semester grace period. I use a differnt 
format that list the effective time of the accommodations. If the 
student does not satisfy the University criteria, they no longer will 
get our services. 

This was hard for me to do at first. I want to help 
everyone--disability of not. However, if I cross that line--I end up in 
all kinds of problems both within the University and legally. 

I would caution you to not let your 'feelings' over power your head in 
staying the course. 

--------------------- 

Now, I'm a little concerned about the legal implications especially in 
regard to setting a precedence. What are your thoughts on the above? 

Jorja 

To which I answered: 

I am not saying what I said because my heart is big. I say it because I 
think that there are some functional limitations that are so clear that 
it is superfluous to ask for documentation. 

I do not know that the other advice and mine differ so much. Remember 
that I qualified my statement by saying that it should be intuitively 
obvious to observation. Thus, if a student says they have a disability 
that you cannot clearly discern, require documentation. If you can 
clearly see for yourself that the disability exists, don't bother to. 
For instance, if I had a student who came in with a seeing eye dog and 
was using the dog appropriately, and the dog was behaving appropriately,
I would not require documentation for a visual impairment. If a student 
came in with an electric wheel chair and used it with good skill, I 
would not require documentation for a mobility impairment. I had a 
student come in the other day who has malformed arms that are about half
the length of a normal arm. She said she needed a scribe. I am going 
to get documentation on her, as she has multiple disabilities, but I do 
not question this need because she and I made sure she could get into 
the building, to my floor, in and out of the bathroom, etc and I 
observed what use of her hands she does have. Does this help? 

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